Electoral court sets new standards for AI deepfakes

Brazil’s top electoral court set new standards for what it will consider to be artificial intelligence-generated deepfakes in political advertising, a move aimed at curbing misinformation and manipulation ahead of the October elections.

The court issued the ruling late Tuesday in a case involving opposition candidate Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who used the mechanism in his party’s convention to feature AI-generated images of his imprisoned father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, endorsing his campaign against President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced in November to 27 years in prison for leading a coup attempt. At the Liberal Party’s convention in Sao Paulo in July, an AI-generated version of the former president appeared to urge attendees “to open arms” for his son and support his presidential bid.